This short documentary examines indigenous Hawaiian approaches to accountability and rehabilitation inside a U.S. prison system built on punishment, profit, and isolation.
This short documentary explores how Indigenous Hawaiian approaches to healing, accountability, and restoration intersect with the U.S. prison system. The film follows incarcerated Native Hawaiians during Makahiki, the traditional season of balance, peace, and renewal, as they engage in cultural ceremonies and education to take responsibility, repair past harms, and pursue personal transformation.
While these practices are legally protected under freedom of religion laws, access remains limited and contested within prisons built for punishment, profit, and control. The film shows how cultural guidance, mentorship, and ceremony create moments of restoration that sharply contrast Western models of incarceration, demonstrating how Indigenous knowledge fosters accountability, community connection, and meaningful change.
Through this lens, the film asks: what does justice look like when rehabilitation, responsibility, and restoration take priority over isolation and retribution, and what can modern systems learn from these ancestral practices?
